Description

1998 Zenith is a 100-card set released by Pinnacle Brands in May 1998. Dubbed the "Dare to Tear" set, each pack three 5" x 7" cards each with one 2 1/2" X 3 1/2" standard-sized card embedded inside. In one of the stupidest gimmicks ever conceived, collectors were faced with the dilemma of having to choose to keep their jumbo 5" by 7" card in-tact, or to tear open (and thus physically destroying) the jumbo card to get to the standard-sized card. Ultimately, collectors by and large chose to carefully slice the back of the jumbo cards and remove the small card.

Based on reports from collectors who opened large amounts of '98 Zenith packs, the middle jumbo card in each pack usually has a standard-sized insert embedded in it.

Checklist

Promos

Nine 5" X 7" samples was inserted into dealer order forms to preview the upcoming 1998 Zenith baseball release. Each large sample card also has one of six standard-sized sample cards embedded inside. The cards were sent out around April, 1998, and are identical to regular issue large Zenith cards except for the bold "SAMPLE" text running diagonally across the back of the card.

5 X 7

Z1 Nomar Garciaparra

Z3 Greg Maddux

Z4 Frank Thomas

Z9 Andruw Jones

Z15 Derek Jeter

Z21 Mike Piazza

Z22 Tony Gwynn

Z35 Ivan Rodriguez

Z40 Ken Griffey Jr.

Standard-sized

2 Ken Griffey Jr.

12 Greg Maddux

14 Mike Piazza

17 Derek Jeter

18 Nomar Garciaparra

19 Ivan Rodriguez

Base Set

5 X 7

1 Nomar Garciaparra

2 Andres Galarraga

3 Greg Maddux

4 Frank Thomas

5 Mark McGwire

6 Rafael Palmeiro

7 John Smoltz

8 Jeff Bagwell

9 Andruw Jones

10 Rusty Greer

11 Paul Molitor

12 Bernie Williams

13 Kenny Lofton

14 Alex Rodriguez

15 Derek Jeter

16 Scott Rolen

17 Albert Belle

18 Mo Vaughn

19 Chipper Jones

20 Chuck Knoblauch

21 Mike Piazza

22 Tony Gwynn

23 Juan Gonzalez

24 Andy Pettitte

25 Tim Salmon

26 Brady Anderson

27 Mike Mussina

28 Edgar Martinez

29 Jose Guillen

30 Hideo Nomo

31 Jim Thome

32 Mark Grace

33 Darin Erstad

34 Bobby Higginson

35 Ivan Rodriguez

36 Todd Hundley

37 Sandy Alomar Jr.

38 Gary Sheffield

39 David Justice

40 Ken Griffey Jr.

41 Vladimir Guerrero

42 Larry Walker

43 Barry Bonds

44 Randy Johnson

45 Roger Clemens

46 Raul Mondesi

47 Tino Martinez

48 Jason Giambi

49 Matt Williams

50 Cal Ripken

51 Barry Larkin

52 Jim Edmonds

53 Ken Caminiti

54 Sammy Sosa

55 Tony Clark

56 Manny Ramirez

57 Bernard Gilkey

58 Jose Cruz Jr.

59 Brian Jordan

60 Kevin Brown

61 Craig Biggio

62 Javier Lopez

63 Jay Buhner

64 Roberto Alomar

65 Justin Thompson

66 Todd Helton

67 Travis Lee

68 Paul Konerko

69 Jaret Wright

70 Ben Grieve

71 Juan Encarnacion

72 Ryan McGuire

73 Derrek Lee

74 Abraham Nunez

75 Richard Hidalgo

76 Miguel Tejada

77 Jacob Cruz

78 Homer Bush

79 Jeff Abbott

80 Lou Collier

Standard-Sized

1 Larry Walker

2 Ken Griffey Jr.

3 Cal Ripken

4 Sammy Sosa

5 Andruw Jones

6 Frank Thomas

7 Tony Gwynn

8 Rafael Palmeiro

9 Tim Salmon

10 Randy Johnson

11 Juan Gonzalez

12 Greg Maddux

13 Vladimir Guerrero

14 Mike Piazza

15 Andres Galarraga

16 Alex Rodriguez

17 Derek Jeter

18 Nomar Garciaparra

19 Ivan Rodriguez

20 Chipper Jones

21 Barry Larkin

22 Mo Vaughn

23 Albert Belle

24 Scott Rolen

25 Sandy Alomar Jr.

26 Roberto Alomar

27 Andy Pettitte

28 Chuck Knoblauch

29 Jeff Bagwell

30 Mike Mussina

31 Fred McGriff

32 Roger Clemens

33 Rusty Greer

34 Edgar Martinez

35 Paul Molitor

36 Mark Grace

37 Darin Erstad

38 Kenny Lofton

39 Tom Glavine

40 Javier Lopez

41 Will Clark

42 Tino Martinez

43 Raul Mondesi

44 Brady Anderson

45 Chan Ho Park

46 Jason Giambi

47 Manny Ramirez

48 Jay Buhner

49 Dante Bichette

50 Jose Cruz Jr.

51 Charles Johnson

52 Bernard Gilkey

53 Johnny Damon

54 David Justice

55 Justin Thompson

56 Bobby Higginson

57 Todd Hundley

58 Gary Sheffield

59 Barry Bonds

60 Mark McGwire

61 John Smoltz

62 Tony Clark

63 Brian Jordan

64 Jason Kendall

65 Mariano Rivera

66 Pedro Martinez

67 Jim Thome

68 Neifi Perez

69 Kevin Brown

70 Hideo Nomo

71 Craig Biggio

72 Bernie Williams

73 Jose Guillen

74 Ken Caminiti

75 Livan Hernandez

76 Ray Lankford

77 Jim Edmonds

78 Matt Williams

79 Mark Kotsay

80 Moises Alou

81 Antone Williamson

82 Jaret Wright

83 Jacob Cruz

84 Abraham Nunez

85 Raul Ibanez

86 Miguel Tejada

87 Derrek Lee

88 Juan Encarnacion

89 Todd Helton

90 Travis Lee

91 Ben Grieve

92 Ryan McGuire

93 Richard Hidalgo

94 Paul Konerko

95 Shannon Stewart

96 Homer Bush

97 Lou Collier

98 Jeff Abbott

99 Brett Tomko

100 Fernando Tatis

Parallels

5 X 7 Impluse

All 80 5 X 7 cards are available in the following Impulse parallels.

Impulse

Gold Impulse (serial numbered to 100 copies)

Z

Each of the 100 standard-sized cards are available in the following "Z" parallels.

Inserts

Epix

Raising the Bar

This 15-card, standard-sized, set features players with only a couple of years of big-league experience.

1 Ken Griffey Jr.

2 Frank Thomas

3 Alex Rodriguez

4 Tony Gwynn

5 Mike Piazza

6 Ivan Rodriguez

7 Cal Ripken

8 Greg Maddux

9 Hideo Nomo

10 Mark McGwire

11 Juan Gonzalez

12 Andruw Jones

13 Jeff Bagwell

14 Chipper Jones

15 Nomar Garciaparra

Rookie Thrills

This standard-sized set has 15 of the top rookies from the 1998 season.

1 Travis Lee

2 Juan Encarnacion

3 Derrek Lee

4 Raul Ibanez

5 Ryan McGuire

6 Todd Helton

7 Jacob Cruz

8 Abraham Nunez

9 Paul Konerko

10 Ben Grieve

11 Jeff Abbott

12 Richard Hidalgo

13 Jaret Wright

14 Lou Collier

15 Miguel Tejada

Z-Team

Z-Team is an 18-card set featuring nine of the top players (cards #1-9), and nine of the top rookies (10-18). The odds of finding a 5 X 7 card with a standard-sized Z-Team embedded inside of it are 1:35/packs for the veterans and 1:58/packs for the rookies. The standard-size cards are also available as a Gold parallel. The odds of finding a 5 X 7 card with a Gold Z-Team card embedded inside of it ate 1:175/packs.